Flower's time up as coach - reports

Andy Flower's tenure as England team director has reportedly come to an end.

Flower is to move on from his role as Test coach following England's 5-0 Ashes whitewash this winter, it has been claimed.

He himself made it clear, after the final Test defeat in Sydney earlier this month, that he intended to continue and try to reinvigorate England alongside captain Alastair Cook.

But the Daily Telegraph has reported that, after a meeting with the England and Wales Cricket Board's new managing director Paul Downton on Thursday, the 45-year-old will not be given the opportunity to try to make up for the miserable 2013/14 tour of Australia.

Flower's five years as England coach have seen many high points, including three successive Ashes series victories.

The second, in Australia three winters ago, was England's first Ashes victory Down Under in almost a quarter of a century.

The Zimbabwean, once also the world's number one-ranked batsman, formed a fruitful alliance with England captain Andrew Strauss.

It was one which took England to the top of the International Cricket Council Test rankings in 2011 - and a year earlier, under Paul Collingwood's captaincy, Flower's tourists also won the country's first and as yet only global trophy when they clinched the World Twenty20 in the West Indies.

Flower had already endured some tough times too, however, even before England's Ashes embarrassment this winter.

His working relationship with Kevin Pietersen broke down in the summer of 2012.

After months of contract wrangles between the superstar batsman and his employers, Pietersen admitted sending 'provocative' text messages about Strauss to opposition South Africa players.

Strauss subsequently retired, and it is thought Pietersen's 'reintegration' was largely at the behest of new captain Cook.

All appeared well, with another Ashes series victory last summer.

But from the moment the rematch began in Australia just three months later, nothing went right for England.